Learning to program quick? Sure…

Much has been said on the importance of learning to program. In order to improve efficiency, industries from healthcare to marketing to the financial sector are adding automated, web-based applications to their business model. With these new systems, employees with the website coding know-how are in demand. Currently employed individuals and job seekers alike are considering their resumes and asking if adding website development would be a valuable and marketable skill.

Web programming is a combination of many different “languages.” And just like learning a foreign language, learning the syntax of code can be difficult. Regardless of the method – online courses, boot camps, higher education – it will take practice and effort in order to do it well.

Despite the level of work required, there are plenty of reasons to learn to program. Here are a few:

The future is automated

As mentioned, many industries currently rely on online systems to operate with more business moving to automation in the coming years. As more systems move online, knowing how to code is valuable in ensuring companies run as smoothly as possible regardless of the field.

Improve problem-solving skills and creativity

Web programming is less about learning what to code and more about learning how to code. Much like learning grammar gives the framework to write creatively, studying programming will provide a baseline to exercise creativity, to problem-solve and to dream up new projects.

Ability to create or troubleshoot

Having the knowledge to troubleshoot website errors without calling in favors is handy. In addition, having programming skills opens up opportunities for freelance work and also provides the ability to tackle more responsibilities in a current career or even create an online presence for a side project.

As with any new venture, there are a few things to keep in mind when deciding to jump into web programming:

Learning to program will take some time

If done thoroughly, learning to program will take a chunk of time. Programming is complex and if you are learning as much information as possible, it will take a while. In terms of weeks, coding boot camps are relatively short, but the days can be long. Online courses can be more self-paced but may take some time to complete.

It will take practice

Every skill–from sports to music to art–takes practice. Programming is the same. Protect the investment of learning to code by having opportunities to use it regularly. Consider if there will be enough life margin to not only learn to code but to maintain the skill set.

It helps to have a specific goal

Having something you want to create or a specific career objective will help keep an end-goal front and center while learning to program.

People across many disciplines and careers are finding web programming to be valuable in their current pursuits or to prepare for future work. Want to know more about learning to program?